Chapter 108: 108 – Lost Treasure

"No one knows anything about my father…" Rook sobbed. "Grandfather and Mother sent out some of their people to enquire again because of the token glowing, but no one was able to find anything. I also wanted to start looking, since Grandfather said that the token may sometimes react to proximity…so I thought maybe my father is here and maybe he lost his memories or something…but…but…the token is gone!"

Mana and Raven exchanged a worried look. It would be quite difficult for them to track down General Aquila if they didn't even have the token to go by.

"Did you check…?" Mana began.

Rook started nodding vigorously even before Mana finished asking her question, cutting her off in the middle. "I checked everywhere," he said tearfully. "It was there in my pocket when I left the imperial guest house in the morning, I never go without my father's token anywhere anyway. I even keep it next to my pillow at night when I go to sleep," he confessed. "Then I thought I'd take a walk around the imperial palace – since Grandfather mentioned proximity, I thought I'll start with the imperial palace first, since Big Brother Raven lives here. So I walked along the streets close to the outer walls until lunch time, and then went back to the imperial guest house to eat with the rest of the family. But when I was about to enter the gates of the imperial guest house, I realised that it was gone. I immediately ran back and searched through every street I walked on – I even asked the people milling about – but no one had seen it."

"You haven't eaten all day?" Raven asked immediately, his Big Brother persona coming out immediately.

Mana picked up the fruit plate kept on a side table (mostly for Azar) and handed it to Rook. "Have a bit while I ask someone to get a proper meal for you," she said.

Rook nodded gratefully. "Thank you, Big Brother Raven, Sister Mana," he said quietly.

Mana removed the sound barrier and notified a passing servant immediately.

"Did you take it out at any time?" Raven asked Rook as soon as she put up the sound barrier again.

Rook nodded. "Only once, but it put it back in my pocket after that. It was near the southern gate of your imperial palace," he said. "I checked over that street twice."

"The token and the pouch – both are gone, or just the token?" Raven asked.

Rook blinked. "Does it matter?" he wondered out loud.

Raven nodded. "Any casual person could touch the pouch – but an activated token can only be touched by the owner of the token, the monarch in question and the heir to the owner," he said.

Mana's eyes widened. "Ah, so only General Aquila, Rook and you can touch the token?" she asked Raven.

Raven nodded. "You, too – since you have the empress token and my token and your token work together," he explained.

Rook's eyes widened, too. "But Big Brother! The pouch is still here!" he said excitedly, pulling out a pouch from his pocket. "And it's a fetching pouch, too – so even if I dropped it somewhere accidentally, the token would come back to me right away! It didn't, and you're here…so…does that mean…does that mean that my father really is here?"

"It is possible," Raven said. "But I can't be sure. I'm not sure how powerful the magic around this pouch is, but it doesn't seem all that powerful from what I can see at the moment…"

Mana frowned. "So it is possible that someone weakened the magic on the pouch and took out the token while Rook wasn't paying attention and put the pouch back in his pocket?" she asked. "Wouldn't Rook realise it if someone did all that?"

Rook nodded eagerly. "I'm not as good as Big Brother Raven, but I'm much better than others!" he boasted.

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Raven chuckled and patted his younger brother's arm. "You're better at fighting in general than me – and you pick up any battle skills really fast," he praised.

Rook preened.

"Food, Mommy!" Azar said suddenly.

Realising that the servant had returned with the food she'd asked for, Mana put a finger on her lips to tell the boys to remain silent. Then she quickly removed the sound barrier and opened the door.

The servant wheeled in a cart full of food, and both Rook and Azar's eyes became sparkly in delight.

"Thank you," Mana said politely. "We'll take it from here – you may leave."

The servant bowed and withdrew silently.

Rook was hungry as a horse and Azar was always ready for a snack. Mana tossed a couple of pastries and a bottle of milkshake to Raven, and chose a small pastry for herself. The rest was left to Rook and Azar to finish.

The childish pair of Uncle and nephew even got into a competition to see who can eat faster and more than the other – naturally, Rook lost. But he was a good sport about it. After being well-fed and with the little dragon's innate talent to cheer people up, by the time the last crumb disappeared, Rook was feeling much better.

Rook and Azar high fived each other when the food was gone.

"Well done, nephew Azar," Rook praised the light dragon. "You won against Uncle Rook!"

Azar grinned up at him. "Uncle Rook is good company!" he said.

Rook laughed and patted the little dragon's head. "You are so awesome, nephew Azar," he said. "I'll miss you when I go back home."

The boy became sad again and his eyes threatened to fill up with tears.

"We'll visit you in the Obsidian Kingdom, and you can stay in the Emerald Kingdom with us for a while, too," Mana said quickly. She really didn't want the boy to start crying again.

Rook brightened again. "Really? I can stay? You won't mind?" he asked eagerly.

Mana smiled and pinched his cheeks. "You're my Raven's little brother. You're family. And more importantly, Raven and I like you, and Azar, too. Why wouldn't we want you to stay here longer?" she asked.

Rook beamed.

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